


No grave can hold my body down

by obfuscatedheart



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Biting, Blood Drinking, Feeding, First Kiss, M/M, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:09:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28325856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obfuscatedheart/pseuds/obfuscatedheart
Summary: Will is a relatively new vampire. Another vampire is hunting in his territory and it is beginning to draw too much attention.
Relationships: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Comments: 4
Kudos: 113
Collections: Fannibal Holiday Gift Exchange 2020





	No grave can hold my body down

**Author's Note:**

  * For [celestialcello](https://archiveofourown.org/users/celestialcello/gifts).



> Written for the 2020 Fannibal Holiday Gift Exchange for sonnederweissennacht on Tumblr!
> 
> Hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Beta read by Selyn

It was dark as Will crept along the alleyway. It was his hunting ground but something was interfering with his prey and he was ready to catch the fucker who hadn’t asked for his permission. Wind brushes through his hair as he looks around for the vampire that has been using his city as a playground. 

“Hello.” A voice purrs and Will whips his head around to find the source. “What do we have here?”

“Someone who you should have asked permission from.”

“Creatures like me don’t ask for permission.”

Will laughs. “We do. We always ask permission.”

The source of the voice steps a little closer til Will can see him. The man is beautiful, but their kind usually are. His cheekbones look as though they could cut glass and for a moment Will wonders whether he would cut his fingers there. His eyes blaze red, as though he is starving. “Some ask for permission. But some of us know when it is already given.”

“You never asked my permission to hunt here.” Will is furious.

“Oh but you already have. You’re so lonely after all. You can’t be more than a few decades old. Your sire must have changed you and turned you out.”

“My sire died.”

“At your own hand.” The stranger has guessed correctly, and it bristles at Will.

“What is your name?”

“Names are powerful things, sweet-thing. I am happy to trade however. Quid pro quo.”

Will inhales deeply. The man smells good, better than any vampire has the right to smell when prey is so close to them. “Will Graham.” he mumbles out after a beat.

“Hannibal Lecter. A pleasure to make your company.”

That was a name he did recognize. It was one of the few that he had learned from his sire before he had killed him. Hannibal Lecter’s name was said in hushed reverent tones. A legend amongst them.

“What are you doing here Hannibal?”

“Passing through, and I was starving.”

“You’ve drank more than your fill. And you’re starting to draw attention.”

“Aren’t you ever so curious how?” Hannibal purrs as he steps close to Will. This close Hannibal smells so good that it makes Will’s teeth ache with the urge to bite down. Hannibal’s hand touches Will’s neck and his thumb rubs over the scars at his neck. “A shame.”

“What is?” Will feels a little drunk. 

“That I didn’t get to witness your becoming.” Hannibal presses gently at the bitemarks and Will’s knees feel ready to buckle. “I imagine you would have been glorious. Would you have been able to best me I wonder?”

Will looks directly into Hannibal’s eyes for the first time. He can see there that Hannibal is just as lonely as he is. This man has lived through centuries alone with no one at his side. Hannibal presses his nose to Will’s neck and inhales deeply. “You would have made the most delicious meal.”

“You might not have stopped.” 

“There is some merit to that theory. But I think I would have been too eager to see what you breaking out of your chrysalis would have been like.”

“You said you were going to show me.”

“I did, didn’t I?” Hannibal teases at the bite with the very edge of one of his fangs. Will leans his head back so that he is leaning against Hannibal’s shoulder. “But that can wait, can’t it?”

Will nods sluggishly. If his heart was still beating as a man he is sure it would be rabbit-fast by now. It is beating a little faster, enough that when Hannibal places a hand to the center of his chest he must be able to feel it.

“What are we to do with you?”

“Anything.” Will breathes. He doesn’t know what has gotten into him that he is so eager to have Hannibal’s hands on him. Feels it so keenly in the way that only his thirst makes him ache.

“Do you know what is happening to you?”

Will shakes his head, unsure whether he would be able to form coherent sentences, not with Hannibal’s hands on him.

Hannibal releases him and Will almost snarls. But then Hannibal is turning him around so he can tip up Will’s chin and look at him. “What did your sire teach you?”

“That territory is a right, and permission must be sought. Everything requires acquiescence. Not to be seen and to hunt at night.”

Hannibal hums and then seems to consider Will. “Follow me. It seems you have much to learn yet.”

He takes Will’s hand and then they are running down the street. Hannibal’s path seems sure so Will focuses on the sensation of air whipping past him as he runs. Faster than he has ever been able to run before. That was something that he had had to learn in those first few days after his turning. The way his steps would send him crashing into furniture when he wasn’t expecting it.

Hannibal comes to a halt outside of a building Will had never noticed in his exploration of Baltimore. The gates open when Hannibal pushes at them, there is a short drive that leads to a brick house that stands proud. There are small steps to the door and Hannibal pushes Will up the steps. He can feel the way that the barriers of this house that don’t allow him entrance begin to push at his mind. “You have permission.” Hannibal whispers into his ear. It is relief when those barriers fall away from his mind.

Hannibal is at his back as he opens the door to the house, there is power that seems to come from the man that is dizzyingly palatable. Like he will be able to make Will bend and break to his will with just a look. Will knows that he would let Hannibal. Feels a pull to this man that he can’t explain.

The hand on his lower back feels proprietary as he is led through darkened hallways, they don’t need lights to see the way. Hannibal’s steps are sure, like he knows the building intimately, perhaps he had been let in by a victim and has been using this as a base. The same way Will had found something in Baltimore after everything. 

There in the dining room the table is set for two. Will gives Hannibal a questioning look. “I thought we didn’t have to eat.”

“Allow me an indulgence.”

“Just one?”

“For now.”

Will nods and Hannibal holds out a seat for him. There is no food on the table yet and there are far too many pieces of flatware than he is comfortable with. He cannot remember the last time he had eaten anything. 

Hannibal disappears through a door and Will lets himself look around the room. There is a painting above the unlit fireplace and for a moment he wonders how the room would look in the warm light of a fire. He only feels temperature as an abstract thought now, the only thing that ever feels warm to him is the gulping drinks he takes of someone’s blood.

Every time his thoughts turn to blood his thirst becomes the central part of him. Like a blackhole that swallows everything else about him. When Hannibal returns to the room he looks at Will and seems to know exactly what his state is because he passes Will a wine glass with a deep thick red inside. “Drink this.”

“Won’t help.”

“Do you trust me?”

Will nods and takes the glass off of him and sips. He half expects it to be wine but the first flavour that bursts over his tongue is all too familiar. He swallows around the pitiful mouthful and then drains the glass. Chasing the concoction from his lips. He looks to Hannibal who is looking at him with a different sort of hunger. Hannibal leans over him and licks at Will’s lips, catching a drop that Will had missed.

“What was that?”

“A burgundy mixed with some of my reserves.” Hannibal places another full glass in front of Will. “Maybe this one you can savor.”

Will only looks at Hannibal. He isn’t quite sure how Hannibal had been able to create something that he could tolerate. He keeps stealing glances at the full glass but he knows that Hannibal wants to exercise some restraint.

“Why have you not fed for so long?”

“You were making it harder to work undetected. And I can’t just choose anyone. They have to deserve it.”

“How quaint.” Hannibal places a plate in front of Will. “who decides morality but ourselves?”

“What is this?”

“Loin with a cumberland sauce. I can assure you that you will be able to tolerate all of this. Bon Appetit.”

It feels strange to be sat at a table again and to be eating. Will cuts the smallest portion of the meat he can manage. The last time he had tried food he had been violently ill, it had ruined an already shitty evening where he had wanted to try fast food to try and have some of his favourite comfort.

He brings the fork to his mouth and takes a gentle bite of the meat. Again flavor bursts along his tongue. He knows what kind of meat this is immediately, the only one he could now tolerate. Their shared prey. Part of Will wants to spit out the bite and run out of the room in horror. But it has been so long since he has been able to satiate his hunger with anything other than liquid.

“This is good.”

“My pleasure.” Hannibal watches Will as he eats. Occasionally taking bites of his own plate. Will had been wrong, Hannibal isn’t starved in the same way he is. “I do wonder why you only pick victims based on your perceived measure of who deserves it.”

“After I was turned, my empathy disorder spun out of control. It was like I could read every emotion as easily as a book.”

“So killing those that deserved it, made it easier to assuage your own guilt around your becoming.”

“Yes.”

“And your guilt at enjoying the violent act.”

Will hesitates. “Yes.” he admits into the silent room. Hannibal awards him a smile that feels hard won, which makes him want another almost immediately. 

“Did you enjoy killing your sire?”

“More than anything.”

“What made them worthy I wonder.”

“The way they created me was wrought in violence. I had asked for a quick death but that possibility was taken from me.”

“You wanted to die?”

“My life, it seemed, had come to its natural conclusion. I thought if I made myself available as prey. There were rumblings about the existence of creatures such as us of course. But I had no idea what I was letting myself into at the time.”

Hannibal considers him. “So you walked out into the streets.”

“With a cut.” Will swallows around a mouthful of wine. “So devastatingly simple it seemed.”

“They found you.”

“They did.” 

“You must have been resplendent, covered in blood.”

“It was easy. Until it wasn’t.”

“You weren’t ready to be reborn.”

“I wasn’t. And when the hunger started I knew what had happened to me.”

“So you killed them.”

“I exacted my revenge.”

“I think the sight would have been beautiful. Tell me, Will, how did you do it?”

“With my bare hands. Until there was nothing left.”

“What a marvellous creature you are.”

“You want to see me kill one of our own?”

“More than anything in the world. But perhaps after I have taught you a few things.”

“What could you teach me? I have survived this long.”

“Survived, yes. But are you thriving?” Hannibal takes a sip of his own wine. “I could show you so much.”

“What do you want in exchange?”

“Your company.” Hannibal has finished his meal while Will is still eating. It is the most delicious food even knowing its contents. “You must be a little curious why you are reacting the way you are to me.”

Will doesn’t know what to say to that. “Will you stop drawing attention?”

“You haven’t yet seen what I am capable of. I can elevate this to an artform. Perhaps you have heard of the Chesapeake Ripper?”

“I lectured on the Chesapeake Ripper.”

Hannibal seems to preen. “Would you illuminate me on your thoughts then?”

Will sighs. Thinking back to his lectures is difficult, it has been so long since he stood in a lecture theatre in front of eager students.

“The Ripper elevates swine to art. There is no doubt that is exactly how he sees them because he eats them. And he kills in sounders of three.”

“And has he ever been caught?”

“No. He moves like a ghost that no one can catch. Almost supernatural. He has been killing like this for years.”

“I imagine there are some victims that are yet to be found.”

“You think that there are more victims?”

“I know so.”

“You’re the Ripper?”

“Yes. Does that frighten you?”

“No more than anything else does now.”

“Do you see now that I am not drawing a lot of attention to more primitive methods of hunting.”

Will doesn’t want to admit that hardly anyone would notice what Hannibal has been doing, no one really pays attention to them. “But I noticed.”

“Yes you did. Because you won’t be able to do anything but notice me.”

“But why?”

“Your sire never got the opportunity to explain that there is a mate for each of us.”

“Mate?” 

“Not in the classic sense of the word. But I suppose soulmates might be more fitting.” Will feels as though he is holding his breath, waiting for Hannibal to explain. “You might have noticed that my scent is a little different to what you are used to.”

Will can only nod. He had never met another vampire that had smelled almost as good as prey.

“It serves almost no evolutionary purpose of course. But there is one for each of us. I never would have thought I would stumble onto my mate, a fledgling, in the middle of the city that I called home over all these centuries.”

Will swallows around the mouthful. He knows Hannibal is old, but to know that he has been calling Baltimore his home all these years, means that he is the one who has been hunting on another’s territory.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“If this is your home, I should have asked permission to hunt.”

“Oh sweet thing. My home is open to all who cling to the shadows. Because no one will ever be able to eclipse me. And if anyone does step out of line I know how to exact my revenge.” Hannibal fills Will’s empty glass from a decanter. “And now I will have you by my side.”

“What if I don’t want to?”

“Oh you will.”

Hannibal stands suddenly, and Will feels cold fear run down his spine. Even though he knows that he is stronger than most, Hannibal feels like the apex predators among apex predators. 

A hand finds itself around his neck and Will can only bare his throat to the man. Hannibal has his nose against his neck and inhales deeply. “You want to. I know you do.”

Will nods frantically. He doesn’t want to deny himself anything ever again. “Yes.” Will hisses.

“Stunning boy.” Hannibal whispers against his neck before he pierces the bite mark on his neck with his own fangs. Covering the mark completely. Will almost howls in pleasure, nothing could have prepared him for the pleasure that courses through him. Hannibal sucks twice and Will feels dizzy with want.

When Hannibal releases him and licks over the puncture wound Will sways in his seat. He feels over sensitive with the need to have Hannibal’s hands on him, feels warm for the first time in years. “Please.” Will doesn’t know what he’s begging for but he needs Hannibal to do something.

Then Hannibal’s lips are on his, feeding him his blood and Will groans into the kiss. Hannibal edges his fangs against Will’s lips until blood bursts between their mouths. His hand is in Will’s hair and he tugs slightly, pinpricks of pain alight along his skin. 

Hannibal draws back, his eyes are still that red of a starving vampire. “I believe in reciprocity.” he purrs against Will’s lips. He moves Will’s head until his lips are over the bite marks on his own neck. “Claim me beautiful boy.”

It is as instinctual as feeding on prey to let his teeth split the skin over the bite. The first bead of Hannibal’s blood on his lips is unlike anything he has tasted before. He sucks and Hannibal arches against him. He lets the blood pool in his mouth before he swallows down. 

He lets go when Hannibal’s hand in his hair tightens uncomfortably. He chases the lingering blood from his lips with his tongue. There is a strange layer that settles in the bone cage of his skull and it feels like Hannibal. It feels like it belongs there, and the thing radiates such contentment that it makes Will feel heavy with fatigue. He cannot remember the last time he has felt safe in his own head. But Hannibal’s presence there is like a blanket shielding him.

“Let me get you into bed.” Hannibal whispers against his lips.

Will can only nod, his head feels so heavy suddenly. Hannibal lifts him into his arms and carries him bridal style up the dark stairs of the house. Will almost wants to laugh, somehow it seems fitting; even though he couldn’t describe how he knows but the sharing of blood between them had felt like vows. 

His eyes keep drooping closed, and he knows it’s the combination of having his hunger sated and Hannibal’s presence. Once Hannibal has him tucked underneath soft blankets on a bed Will’s eyes fall shut and he falls into a deep sleep.


End file.
